Old New "Spartak"

On May 21, Leonid Fedun officially resigned himself the powers of the head of the board of directors of the Spartak football club.

The self-removal of Fedun can be treated differently. Some fans had been waiting for this for a long time (some even demanded) and therefore perceived the departure of Fedun as a thing of himself understanding. Say, the "era of shame" and winged "for so many years without victories has ended, but now the team has only a change for the better ahead. Other fans reacted to the event wary and were more restrained in the comments.

It is too early to draw the conclusions, since the football season in Russia is almost complete. But you can try to understand the premises and the possible consequences of such a development of events.

Leonid Fedun acquired Spartak in 2004 - in the not successful period in the history of the club. The previous owner (Andrei Chervichenko) managed to destroy what Oleg Romantsev and George Yartsev created for years, and turn Spartak into a laughing stock that was mired in laundering money.

Fedun made two very important things, vital Spartak. In 2009, the Fedor Cherenkov Club Academy was built in Sokolniki. The work cost 40 million euros. And in 2014, Spartak finally had its own stadium , which is now considered the most advanced in Russia: bright design, 45 thousand seats, chic acoustics, ultra-modern equipment, and beautiful lawn. This stadium is included in the number of areas, in which in 2018 the world championship matches should be held.

Fedun allocated money for these projects from his pocket. You can discuss the origin of these funds, but the fact is evident: Fedun did not break anything or spoiled. Not having anything in 2004, being in a deep pit with 40 (!) Football players in the composition, half of whom were frank "tourists", by 2015, Spartak received one of the best areas of the country and the Academy, whose pupils are already assigned to the "foundations" matches.

However, Spartak has not been solved by another important, if not the most important problem - the lack of a bright and recognizable game, which over many years has been a "branded sign" of Spartak football. At the same time, they no longer look at the result: many cannot forgive Fedun that the club since the time of Romantsev has never become the champion of the country. The phrase "Spartak - Champion" has developed in the minds of fans in the axiom, and every year without a championship is an insult for the club fans. Hence the banners: “Fedun, sell Spartak. And that the club has become a silver medalist of the Russian Championship five times over the past ten years.

Leonid Fedun laid the base: Spartak has an academy and its own stadium. It remains to create a team

Such a "installation" leads to constant and excessive pressure on players, coaches and functionaries of the team. And they somehow forgot about progress and development in the club. Not least, due to such a nervous situation, bright, but not very beautiful conflicts arose, as a result of which the club left both sides. One of them, for example, is a conflict between the Spanish coach Unai Emery, who proved his viability in the form of two victories in the Europa League , and the bright young striker Artem Dziuba, who will begin the new season at Zenith. Fedun was scolded for the fact that he allowed to expose honored players from the team, and for the fact that he was forced to dismiss good coaches, for example, Michael Laudrupe, Vladimir Fedotov and Alexander Starkov, not giving them a chance to create a new team.

Valery Karpin combined the posts of the general manager and head coach for some time. For a long time, a lot has said goodbye, and this raises serious questions for the president. Karpin had no coaching experience and license, led the team on all fronts for more than one year. He successfully speculated the fans who “believed in Valera” allowed both the obscene tirads and the incredible statements - “the general manager is dissatisfied with the work of the head coach” and “The general manager determines the size of the salary of the coach”. He actually provoked the resignation of Emery and again took the coaching place. Then the president said that Spartak needs an experienced Russian coach. But the subsequent appointment of far from the most experienced foreigner - Swiss Murat Yakin - clearly contradicted the logic of statements. Yakin was appointed to appoint, but he was not allowed to work again. Fedun tried to influence the choice of the composition, following those who criticized Spartak for the absence of a "branded" game. As a result, in 2015, the failure of a number of matches of the RFPL championship followed, and the fate of Yakin was a foregone conclusion.

But not only Yakina. After the defeat from CSKA, the most fundamental (according to the fans) rival of the Red-White, Fedun and announced the care . Perhaps he was just tired of puffing up for defeats. Perhaps the constant public criticism of his activities as president of the club beats his prestige in business circles. However, Fedun will continue to finance the club, remaining its chief investor. This turns his departure into a competent populist step. The main shareholder decided to appoint an experienced manager, who ideally would coordinate all the decisions with him. But no one knows how many funds have already lost Fedun, independently regulating all financial flows. The club needed people who were well versed in football and did not have time to tarnish themselves with shadow methods of doing business. Simply put, Spartak was looking for both the general director and the head coach.

The first was determined relatively quickly. He became Sergey Rodionov - the indigenous Spartakovets, a person who knows how things are inside the club who once worked as an assistant head coach (Karpina), equally respected by players and fans. It remains only to understand how good Rodionov is in administrative work, but so far it seems from the outside that this is a decent candidate.

The head coach was determined a little longer, trying to even create a kind of intrigue. In fact, few doubted that Dmitry Alenichev had much more chances for this post than other candidates - Kurban Berdyev and Viktor Goncharenko. Alenichev is a former captain of Spartak, the most titled Russian football player who has achieved success and recognition not only in Russia, but also in football Europe. The fans will accept him, because in the game of the Tula Arsenal everyone stubbornly searched (and found) notes of classic Spartak football. However, Arsenal, under the leadership of Alenichev in 2015, flew out of the Premier League, which, however, did not disturb the press and fans of Spartak. Alenichev was expected in Moscow, but recently they had not paid much attention to the Tula team.

So, everyone expects that the young coach and the new president will succeed and Spartak will regain the championship. But for this you need to change too much and too fast. Fans, for whom the second place with a good game is a grand failure, will not forgive mistakes. If something goes wrong, tremendous pressure will again be on the young coach, and the new president will be mercilessly scolding. The only question is whether the leadership will go again on the fans, or will finally take a firm position, realizing that genuine development is a matter of not one or even several seasons. Leonid Fedun laid the base: Spartak has an academy and its own stadium. It remains to create a team.